Views

Media Coverage

From Diablo Wiki

This page lists all Diablo III coverage; previews, interviews, pictures, videos, designer diaries, forum post, and more. Anything from the D3 Team that's substantial enough to warrant a news post on Diablo: IncGamers gets an entry on this page. Larger interviews and other features are sometimes archived in this section one month after they go online, to ward off link rot.

Blue Post: January 20, 2011 -- A slow month for Diablo 3 content is greatly-enlivened by Jay Wilson's blog post explaining the major changes to the game's interface and the removal and modification of other major systems.

Blue Post: December 9, 2011 -- Blizzard reveals "Battle.net Balance" as the official term for a player's balance of currency that can be gained or spent on the Diablo III RMAH. Funds can also be spent on Blizzard games, merch, WoW subscriptions, and more.

Blue Post: December 15, 2011 -- The BattleTag system is announced]. All Battle.net gamers must create a BattleTag one to play Diablo III Beta, and soon all other Blizzard games. Early feedback is positive, with some complaints about the extensive and mysterious banned word list.

Blue Post: July 8, 2011 -- Bashiok drops the word that the three skills in Tier Seven of the Barbarian skills all have 120 second cooldowns. Much debate ensues, including an episode of The Diablo Podcast, where all the guests are accepting of the system, providing the skills are powerful enough to warrant the long delay between casts. Bashiok adds much more explanation a few days later.

Blue Post: July 5, 2011 -- A playable demo is (at last) confirmed for Gamescom 2011. A day later Bashiok tentatively states that it will be the Blizzcon 2010 demo build, rather than a new 2011 game demo.

Other: July 3, 2011 -- The D3Here saga comes to a rapid conclusion, when he shuts down his blog, Flux offers to collect additional questions and transmit his replies (to preserve his anonymity), and does so in D3Here's last public outburst. As big a story as D3Here's questions is the debate over the ethics and appropriateness of the largest Diablo 3 fansite providing a podium to D3Here, and a 100+ comment thread rages about it (sadly lost to a forum move/script change).

Video: July 3, 2011 -- Blizzard posts the winners in their "Memories of Blizzard" fan video contest. One Diablo memory-holder is included.

Commentary: June 20, 2011 -- The Diablo Podcast discusses the WoW Auction House and speculates on Diablo III's trading system.

Other: June 18, 2011 -- Word leaks of a press event set for Blizzard Irvine in late July, at which the Diablo 3 Beta build will be play-tested and Diablo III's B.net features will be revealed. The big news will break on August 2nd, after the NDA is lifted.

Picture: June 15, 2011 -- Diablo3.cc reports on the mysterious symbols they saw affixed to the walls inside Blizzard Irvine during their recent visit. No explanations about the symbols are forthcoming from Blizzard.

Blue Post: May 25, 2011 -- Bashiok reveals that the Talisman (and Charms) are out of Diablo III for the release. The feature may return in a patch or expansion, if they can find a way to make it more compelling.

Blue Post: May 6, 2011 -- @Diablo cruelly teases about the diablo beta by offering 5,911 winning points to someone participating in the hashtag twitter promotion. It is widely accepted specualtion that 5,911 points refers to Unicorn Day, the 9th of May, where the Blizzard conference call will be held speaking in one manner or another of the Diablo III beta.

Picture: May 2, 2011 -- Another BlizzCon graphic featuring Diablo is shown on the Blizzard BlizzCon website; this time it is an animated flash file showing a mysterious four-sectioned hole in Diablo's animated chest. Speculation ranges from humorous to absurd.

Blue Post: April 29, 2011 -- Bashiok dips into the bnet forums to speak on why BoE was dropped from the game, and also elaborates a bit on how set items will function in Diablo III, revealing that they are all of legendary quality.

Interview: April 26, 2011 -- A preview emerges bythe New York Times with Jay Wilson, offering fans a commentary on trade, and also a tantalizing quote by Jay Wilson about how the game is in the final stretch. Those who are not excited are those who followed StarCraft II's development, realizing that "the final stretch" can extend well past the horizon into cosmic space where time has no meaning.

Commentary: April 23, 2011 -- The demo specs were revealed for the machines running Diablo III at G-Star in Korea. It is widely accepted that these specs have no true bearing on the final system requirements for Diablo III, as the game had yet to be optimized at that point.

Blue Post: April 22, 2011 -- Bashiok replies to a fan's question about whether or not the game plays differently from 2008 to 2011, and also @Diablo comments in a sarcastic tone to a request for a new monster description, and some shallow commentary on lore.

Blue Post: April 19, 2011 -- This posting by Bashiok is rather a milestone in the development process of Diablo III as, for the first time, semi-specific details about the Diablo III beta are released.

Picture: April 15, 2011 -- The eleventh edition of facebook likes shows off a fancy torture device, in addition to a screenshot that does not contain the torture device. However, a high-resolution shot of an as-of-yet unnamed Monkskill can be seen in the screenshot.

Blue Post: April 14, 2011 -- Bashiok covers the subject of when and how the game is randomized, and the differences in randomization between the "overworld" and in a dungeon. He also talks smack about the cowardly Fallen, ironically represented by one himself in the battle.net forums.

Picture: April 13, 2011 -- New artwork for Diablo emerges for BlizzCon 2011, showing Big Red himself taking center stage, in all of his/her/its fiery glory.

Picture: April 5, 2011 -- A latent April Fool's Day grenade blows up amongst the Diablo community when a fake concept box for Diablo III appears from a Polish website. The graphic is very unimpressive, and yet somehow manages to fool a large portion of the community.

Commentary: March 29, 2011 -- A poll appears on Diablo: IncGamers asking players how they played the PVE game. Large numbers of them chose the option of experimentation along with several favorite characters and builds.

Blue Post: March 28, 2011 -- @Diablo announces that Blizzard is not ready to make a beta announcement, despite the paradox. The community is shocked and surprised that Blizzard requires more time.

Blue Post: February 9, 2011 -- The 4Q 2010 Activision/Blizzard conference call creates a huge controversy by seeming to rule out any Blizzard game releases in 2011. That conclusion is disputed by Bashiok later that day, then in a more formal forum post, then by Rob Pardo later that week. All say that D3 may still be released in 2011, and that Tom Tippl's investor legalese was misunderstood in the conference call.

Blue Post: February 7, 2011 -- The Diablo Facebook page "looks for likes" program kicks off, promising new images for every 25,000 likes from 550k to 1 million. Updates commence at a pace of about one per week.

Blue Post: January 19, 2011 -- Blizzard reveals the winners of their 2010 Holiday Card Contest, and amusingly includes one entry that reused official Diablo II artwork from 2004. (Blizzard sticks the newest CM hires and interns with judging fan contests, and they tend not to know anything Blizzard did before WoW.)